Japanese court refuses to rehouse children near Fukushima site

Nagashima Rio who was born on March 15, is tested for possible nuclear radiation at an evacuation centre in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, northern Japan, located about 60 km from the tsunami and earthquake-crippled nuclear reactor, March 31, 2011. (Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon) / Reuters

A Japanese court has dismissed a lawsuit demanding that the government pay for the re-settlement of children from the city of Koriyama, 60 km from the site of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which suffered a meltdown in 2011.

On Wednesday, the Sendai High Court said that while the
radiation level in the city of over 300 thousand still exceeds the
Japanese average, it poses no danger to health, and said those
worried are free to re-locate at their own expense.

“The children are victims with absolutely no responsibility
for the nuclear accident," complained the Toshio Yanagihara,
one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, following the ruling, which can be
appealed in a higher court.

The suit was filed in June 2011 by parents of 14 children
worried about persistent low-level exposure to radiation from the
plant, which was damaged by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in
March that year.

After repeated rulings against them, all but one of the children
have either moved away from Koriyama, or have grown too old for the
lawsuit, which has been widely supported by anti-nuclear
activists.

Currently those living in Koriyama are exposed to about 2.2
millisieverts per year (mSv/y), about three times the average
natural background radiation throughout the country. Following the
meltdown, officials set the yearly dangerous exposure limit to 20
mSv/y, and say that any exposure below 100 mSv/y is unlikely to
have any health repercussions.

Associated Press reports that throughout Koriyama, there are
spikes of radiation that far exceed the average, and breach the
government limit. Besides, activists say that radiation can
penetrate the human body in harmful quantities not only through the
measured air levels, but food and water, which are also subject to
long-term contamination.

In the two years following the accident, three children in the
Fukushima area have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, which is
often a symptom of excessive radiation exposure. However, the
number is too statistically small to confidently attribute to the
accident, and besides, the true impact of radiation poisoning – as
in Chernobyl – often only emerges years later. World Health
Organisation (WHO) officials say those who were infants at the time
of the accident, the risk of thyroid cancer is increased by up to
70 percent (though this type of tumor is still rare). The overall
incidence of cancer among the most affected population is likely to
be 4 to 7 per cent higher, according to an extensive study WHO
published earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency has criticized
the “temporary” measures in place at the Fukushima plant, which is
still being maintained, and says the impact of the meltdown could
take over 40 years to clear up.

Despite prominent anti-nuclear protests, Industry Minister
Toshimitsu Motegi said this week that the country intends to
restart some of the 48 nuclear reactors mothballed since 2011. Only
two reactors are currently operational.